Of Griffins and Basilisks
by Emmabeth27
Summary: Harry is the Captain of The Griffin, one of the finest ships on the sea. However, wherever there is one thief, another will follow. The Basilisk is always hot on their heels, seeking to swoop in and take what The Griffin stole in the first place. Harry needs to stay one step ahead of Captain Draco Malfoy if he wants the treasure.


"Everyone keep your gabs shut, we're only here for three days and if anyone catches wind of what we're doing it'll come out of your hide. Especially if those swine on the Basilisk find out," Harry barked at his crew before he dismissed them to enjoy three days of shore leave.

The Griffin had stopped at the pirate port to restock and prepare for a long voyage after a particularly desirable treasure, and Harry would be damned if any other pirate beat him to it.

Seeing The Basilisk in port made him frown. Captain Malfoy was a right bastard and wouldn't hesitate to bribe or steal any information he could.

It was well known that The Griffin did the hard work seeking out special treasure troves. The Basilisk was the one who stole it out from under their feet. Though, since Harry had become captain, these last few years there had been less swiping from The Basilisk. However, the rivalry between the two crews had grown even worse.

"Who else is here worth knowing about?" Harry's first mate, Ron asked.

"The Raven is here. And The Badger now controls the whole port, the rumor is the ship doesn't sail much anymore," Hermione, the navigator, said.

"Right." Harry nodded. "Ron, Hermione, you two have command of the ship. We aren't going to leave her unguarded. The rest of the crew will rotate out in shifts."

The two nodded and looked incredibly pleased with the arrangement.

"Try to stay out of bed at least some of the time and do some guarding." Harry rolled his eyes and grabbed his coin purse before he left the vessel as well.

Harry walked up the main street, keeping his purse close. This port town used to be a vicious hive of cutthroats, but it seemed The Badgers were cleaning the place up. It looked like a semi-respectable town by now.

Not really happy with the changes, Harry went down past the wharf to find out if his favorite bar was still intact.

The Hogs Wart had been cleaned up some, but when Harry went inside he found that it seemed blissfully unchanged. Sailors, or rather, pirates sat around drinking warm ale, cheating at dice and cards, a few broken chair pieces littered the floor along with the occasional broken glass.

He looked around and his eyes fell on a particularly well-feathered tricorn hat. The wearer of the hat was a handsome man, a large scar running down his cheek and his long silver-blonde hair tied in a thick braid down his back.

"Malfoy." Harry wasn't surprised to find him here. The two of them seemed to have somewhat similar taste in bars and very similar taste in treasure.

As if he could hear his name mentioned from across the room, Malfoy's head tipped up and he saw Harry in the doorway.

His thin pink lips turned up in a smirk, "Potter. Heard you were pulling in." Malfoy didn't try and yell above the loud conversation in the room; instead, it felt as if the room quieted to accommodate Malfoy.

Harry did a second glance around and realized most of the room was full of Basilisks. If they meant trouble, things could get sticky. But a Badger behind the bar, wearing a bright yellow kerchief, crossed his arms, clearly ready to break anything up.

With a slow step, Harry entered the room, getting closer to Malfoy, feeling all eyes on him.

"Really? We heard you were stranded here while The Basilisk was being repaired from wood rot," Harry smirked back.

Malfoy looked properly insulted that his ship would ever suffer from such a plebian concern.

"Hear that, boys?" Malfoy called out, "The Basilisk is down for the count. Well, we'd better get back to her and check that out. On your way all of you." Draco dismissed his crew with a wave and stood up as well, throwing a long grand coat around his shoulders.

"Going already?" Harry asked in surprise as Malfoy walked near him.

"Going to ask me to stay?" Malfoy smirked at Harry.

"No-no," Harry stammered. He'd just been so sure Malfoy would be after the same treasure trove. But maybe this time he hadn't gotten wind of what The Griffin was up to.

"Then, cheerio." Malfoy chuckled as he walked past Harry, their shoulders brushing slightly.

Harry stood in the nearly deserted bar and felt cheated somehow.

* * *

They'd left the port without any trouble and were heading off to pursue Captain Riddle's Treasure. Harry had come across a journal, detailing the wreck of The Thestral. The ship had been carrying a king's ransom on gold, going from the Aztec empire and back to Spain.

Rumors had circled about the ship for years. During a terrible storm, the ship sank and only two crew members were left alive, all that lovely gold going to the bottom of the ocean. The two men swam to a nearby island where they were rescued a year later by a merchant ship stopping to look for freshwater. The two men claimed that the captain of their vessel, a man named Riddle, had stashed half the gold for himself on a secret island. But, there was an even greater prize, a magical artifact stashed away with the hidden treasure.

For years, treasure hunters, pirates, and even a few bold navy vessels had searched for the missing horde but none had ever come close to finding the secret island. The two men disagreed about the location and died shortly after being rescued.

While Harry had been in a little second-hand book store, stuck with Hermione, he'd found a small, water-stained journal. It seemed to be a first-hand account of the wreck by one of the survivors. If even half the information in the journal was correct, it was a huge lead to finding the treasure.

After painstakingly translating the book over a period of a few months, they'd made their final stop at the port to get ready before going to find the treasure.

The trouble with the book was that it listed every stop The Thestral had made along its route back to Spain. It made no sense for a ship to stop so often, and along such tricky islands. Harry suspected Captain Riddle was dropping bits of the treasure on every island. The gold was valuable of course, but it was this magical artifact that Harry wanted. He had a few magical items in his collection now, and their value was beyond gold.

The journal made no direct reference to what kind of artifact it was, but Harry was determined to have it.

The Griffin stopped at the small island first listed in the book, only to find recent boot prints in the sand of the uninhabited island. Harry frowned. It was strange, but not unlikely, that some other ship stopped here for an innocent reason. Sadly, they found nothing on the first island.

The same was true on the second island, and again, another ship was there before them, the boot prints still fresh further up the beach where the tide hadn't washed them away. Harry had a growing suspicion he knew just which ship it was. It was too big a coincidence.

As they came around to the third stop at one of the larger islands, they saw The Basilisk anchored just offshore and boats rowing quickly back to her. On the shoreline, angry natives were firing arrows, and who knew what else, at the retreating pirates.

Harry laughed gleefully, at least Malfoy had saved his crew from a few arrows, and ordered his crew to sail on past them. They'd skip to the next point in the journal, the sleeker, less pretentious size of The Griffin cutting through the water faster than The Basilisk ever could.

"How did they know about this place though?" Hermione pointed out, looking over the railing at the retreating Malfoy. "They must be on the same quest as we are."

"Bloody Hell," Harry said, his enjoyment dampening. He hadn't realized, yet, what seeing The Basilisk there meant.

"How the hell does he do that? That little smug shit," Ron growled and hit the railing in anger.

"He had a three-day head start. We got caught in that little storm and lost time, but they must have been running around that jungle for a while. Now it'll be a race to the next spot," Hermione said, going to plot out the course.

"Get the crew moving," Harry barked at Ron who quickly snapped into action.

* * *

They did spend the next four days chasing each other. The two ships and crews were evenly matched for the most part, but The Basilisk didn't have a 'Hermione', or the journal. Harry spent a good deal of time looking over the port side, seeing Malfoy off in the distance, just out of cannon range. Not that they'd ever fired on each other, but Malfoy wasn't taking chances it seemed.

"Storm is coming!" Parvati said, running across the deck and pointing at the dark clouds ahead. "It's going to be a big one," she warned. Parvati was known for her weather predictions. So far, she'd never been wrong.

Harry glared at the clouds and then glanced over at The Basilisk. "If they're not slowing, we're not slowing."

The crew didn't argue, no one liked the idea of losing when they were getting so close. Harry kept an eye on Malfoy's crew, using his spyglass and watching what they were doing.

"It's getting too dangerous!" Hermione said as the winds and rain picked up, she came close to Harry. The ship creaked and the masts shook in the wind. Harry hadn't raised sail yet, he wanted to catch as much of the wind as he could and only give up when he had no choice. In his mind's eye, he saw Malfoy off in the distance, racing forward.

The sky had darkened to near night, and the rain flew around like a whip, stinging their cheeks, making them squint in the barely-there light.

"We have to keep going," Harry shouted at her, afraid his voice was being carried away in the wind.

"We need to raise the sail. There are shallows through here. We could run aground if we're not careful!" she shouted back.

Harry growled in annoyance and looked back at Malfoy to see what he was doing, but it was too dark and they were too far to make anything out.

"There's no point in killing ourselves." Ron came over, also trying to convince Harry he was pushing too hard.

It was frustrating, but Harry nodded. "Do it," he said to them.

The crew quickly set to work getting more storm prepared and their pace slowed considerably. _If Malfoy was still racing, he'd gain a huge lead_, Harry thought sadly.

"ROCKS!" Little Colin in the crow's nest called the dreaded word. "Rocks off the starboard side!"

They all ran to the helm where Oliver was doing the best he could, but in the blackness of the storm, he couldn't see anything.

Harry's breath caught in his throat as he heard the sickening sound of wood meeting stone, scraping and scratching.

"Hold together girl…" Harry prayed rubbing a hand on the wheel of The Griffin.

It felt like they spent hours being smashed around rocks in the darkness of the storm. The ship was taking on water but so far it seemed possible to fix if only they could get out of the storm and ashore somewhere.

As the storm passed and the pink sunset sky became visible again, Harry felt a bubble of hope. Ahead of them was an island. If they could get closer, they could turn this around. They'd faced worse odds before.

The Griffin was limping along when they heard a loud snap and breaking from below.

"Captain!" A cry came as Seamus ran up on deck. "The hull has given way! We're going down!"

Ice ran up Harry's spine. He'd never had to abandon ship before and his every fiber rebelled against the idea.

"Everyone to the longboats! Grab whatever provisions we can carry. Move, you dogs!" Harry shouted, ringing the bell and ordering the evacuation. His ship may go down but he wasn't going to lose a single member of his crew.

Harry ran to his quarters, grabbing the few things that he couldn't replace, his magical artifacts mostly, stuffing them in his seal skin pack. He wanted to save it all, every last thing in here was a treasure he'd worked to achieve, but he knew it was impossible.

Some crew members came in and Harry let them haul out the treasury. It wasn't very heavy, which right now was a blessing.

The last person off The Griffin was Harry. She was half underwater now and tipped sideways. In less than a few hours, she'd be gone under to join Davy Jones' locker.

"Make for the island!" Ron was shouting, urging the boats forward.

As they rowed for the island, The Basilisk sailed up by them.

"Need some help, Potter?" came a loud call. Even from far away, Harry could tell Malfoy wasn't hiding his enjoyment at his predicament.

Harry was tempted to raise a rude finger to him, more than tempted. But considering it could be months before they were rescued, and there may be no freshwater on the island, he didn't have that luxury.

"Yes, damn you!" Harry shouted back, unable to hold off the curse.

If he could actually hear the laughter, or just imagined it, Harry wasn't sure. But he was sure Malfoy was being an ass.

"We'll split the treasure 90/10," Malfoy shouted, The Basilisk coming a little closer.

Harry frowned. "Like hell!"

"We could take it all and leave you here," Malfoy pointed out.

Even though he sounded confident, Harry wondered if Malfoy was missing a piece of the puzzle and worried he couldn't find the treasure without Harry.

"50/50!" Harry barked back. It was more than generous.

"75/25!" Malfoy was now in sight, standing proudly on the rail of his ship, arm hooked in the rigging for stability, his long coat forgotten and his shirt untied, his pale smooth chest peeking through.

"60/40! My final offer!" Harry shouted, glaring at him.

"65/35! _My_ final offer!" Malfoy countered right away.

Harry opened his voice to argue when there was a cough behind him.

"Cap," Ron said, his boat right beside Harry's, "just take the deal." Ron sounded tired and the rest of the crew looked like they'd much rather share a ship and profits than risk being stranded.

"Fine," Harry grumbled.

"What was that?" Malfoy leaned forward, his smug look clear from here.

"You have a deal," Harry called to him.

"Excellent." Malfoy stepped back and began barking orders to haul up the crew of The Griffin.

Harry climbed up last, only after all the crew and provisions were aboard did he climb up and jump on the deck of The Basilisk.

Malfoy motioned for Harry to follow and they went to stand and address the crew together.

"Alright, we're going to be sleeping two to a bunk in some places, so everyone just suck it up and deal. Provisions are tight so everyone is going on a diet starting now. _I'm_ Captain of this ship, and you all work for me now." Malfoy quickly barked out orders, getting things going again. Harry, biting his tongue, could only nod beside him.

"The Griffin crew is going down to rest, you lot share and make nice. I don't want to hear of any trouble. We've got a common goal for now and we're in this together. Blaise, you work with Ron and make it happen." Malfoy dismissed everyone and turned to Harry.

"Come on, Captain." He smirked. "I'll show you your quarters." Malfoy led him back and opened the door to the captain's quarters.

"If the crew have to share a room, do I take it to mean that we have to as well?" Harry asked.

"Something like that." Malfoy nodded.

Harry looked around with interest once he was inside. He'd always wondered what Malfoy's room had looked like. It was neat and tidy, everything in its place and Harry got the compulsion to mess it up.

Malfoy took off his hat and put it on a stand with his coat. "I'm sorry about The Griffin," he said with real feeling.

Harry sighed and looked down. "Yeah." It was a pain that would take a long time to heal. He set down the bag he'd brought with him in a corner of the room.

Malfoy was watching him, something very snake-like in his eyes. "You didn't have to sink your ship just to get to spend a night in my bed," Malfoy smirked, leaning against a wall.

Harry walked up to him. "You wish I was that desperate." He scoffed before he grabbed Draco's shirt and pulled him in for a rough kiss.

Draco wrapped his arms around Harry, groaning happily, and started to strip Harry of his damp clothes.

"So mad at you," Harry panted as his shirt was pulled over his head.

"Why?" Draco asked with a chuckle, throwing the lock on the door and then pushing Harry backward onto the large bed.

"You left town without saying a word, you jerk. There I was, rushing to the Hogs Wart, and you ran out on me." Harry yanked off his boots, his body thrumming with excitement.

"We had a race to start." Draco laughed and pulled off his waistcoat and shirt, following Harry onto the bed and crushing his mouth in another kiss.

Harry squirmed under him happily. Lord, he missed this, the few times a year they could indulge in each other's arms wasn't nearly enough.

It took weeks of planning to casually sail into the same port together, find some hidden room and knock boots for a few days. And given the temperamental seas, it sometimes was only one night before one or the other had to leave.

"Hurry up," Harry panted, rolling over onto his stomach and presenting himself. "I want you so bad," he groaned, hiding his blushing face in a fluffy embroidered pillow.

Draco muttered curses as he slammed around a few drawers until he found a jar with a funny smelling lubricant. It was better than nothing, however, and Harry didn't complain.

He moaned softly as Draco did a perfunctory job of fingering him, Harry urging him to go faster.

When Harry felt Draco's tip at his hole, he let out a happy sound and turned his head for a kiss. Draco was there, kissing him with a long sigh as he sank into Harry.

"Fuck," Harry groaned against Draco's lips. He forgot sometimes how long Draco was, his own stubby fingers never hitting the places he wanted, and getting it in so deep felt so good.

Draco smirked, maybe reading Harry's thoughts. He kissed Harry's cheek and started moving, thrusting into him hard and fast, the way they'd both grown to like best.

Harry buried his face in the pillows, smothering his sounds, knowing they traveled better on a ship than one might think.

Clearly, though, Draco had no such problems, the noisy sounds of their lovemaking spreading around the room.

"Draco…" Harry whined a little.

"It's okay," Draco said, leaning down and nuzzling him almost, though it was too tender an action to go with the way he pounded into Harry's ass.

Harry groaned and submitted, in too much ecstasy to complain.

"Getting close," Harry moaned softly, with the way Draco was rubbing his sweet spot, it was no wonder.

"Me too," Draco said, kissing him one more time.

Harry's toes curled as he felt a building orgasm. He bit a corner of the pillow, crying happily as he came.

"Fuck, Harry," Draco panted in his ear, pulling out in the nick of time and spilling his hot seed over Harry's ass.

He was lucky Draco was a fastidious guy. While he got to lay around in post-orgasmic bliss, Draco moved around cleaning everything up and rolling Harry over to pull off the blanket he'd dirtied.

"You didn't have to drool all over this pillow. It's the highest quality silk!" Draco huffed, pulling the pillow away from Harry.

Harry chuckled happily and simply opened his arms to Draco. "You can buy a new one with all the money you're ripping off me." Harry smiled.

Draco wasn't much of a cuddler, but he still moved in close to Harry, draping an arm over him and kissing him softly.

"Instead of buying a pillow…" Draco said, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant. "How about I give you back the share I demanded... And you buy a new ship and we sail together in our own fleet. No more battles."

Harry looked at him in surprise. "You're not serious? The Griffin and The Basilisk joining forces? No way."

"Then let Ron take the new Griffin and you come captain with me," Draco insisted.

"What's brought this on?" Harry asked, running a hand over Draco's arm.

"I'm tired of this game." Draco sighed. "Or rather, as soon as I saw your wrecked ship I realized how tired I was. I want to just be with you and not sneak around a few nights a year."

Harry blushed a little. "That sounds like a proposal," he teased a little to lighten the mood. He wasn't sure what to do with this new side of Draco.

"So what if it is?" Draco challenged, his grey eyes looked determined. Embarrassed, but determined.

"I…" Harry hesitated. "I need time to think about it."

"Time?" Draco asked. He didn't like to deal with vague things.

"After we find the treasure or whatever there is. Then I'll know," Harry said.

Draco nodded. "That's fair," he agreed. "Now, about this treasure..."

Malfoy explained he'd pinched the journal from Harry right after Harry had found it. He'd copied out what he thought was important but realized later he was missing clues. Together they worked on the few extra maps and rumors that Draco had collected and they formed a plan to go after what was hopefully the entire hoard of treasure.

* * *

They'd hiked over two miles of this small island, finding nothing so far besides turtles and some angry sea birds.

"This is pointless." Ron sighed.

"There's that great Griffin spirit." Malfoy rolled his eyes and bent his head with Hermione over the journal again to look for another clue.

Harry's stomach was in knots, he should be thinking about treasure, the favorite thing of all pirates. But instead, he was thinking about sharing a bed with Malfoy or sailing off by himself. Draco hadn't given him an ultimatum, but Harry was pretty sure that it was going to end up that way.

"I'm just sure it's this way," Hermione said, pointing in a new direction.

"Alright, we'll follow you." Malfoy nodded.

They trekked a further mile, by now they'd hiked the length and breadth of the island. Harry was just about to echo Ron's earlier statement when Malfoy gave out a triumphant cry.

"There it is! The final marker! Captain Riddles' treasure!" He motioned the crew with shovels to come in and start digging.

All together they unearthed five trunks of gold and gems. There was one small box in the center that Harry opened eagerly.

"Is this all?" Harry wondered, pulling out a rustic and old compass. It was clearly an antique but it wasn't the magical artifact he'd been hoping for.

Malfoy looked over Harry's shoulder. "Is that the magic artifact?" he asked hopefully.

"No, just an old compass." Harry frowned. "It doesn't even point north." The arrow had slid over and was pointed directly at Draco.

"Oh lord, I have heard of this," Malfoy said excitedly. He took the compass from Harry and the needle swung back around to point at Harry.

"What is it?" Harry poked at the device.

"This compass points to whatever your heart wants the most," Draco said happily. His grey eyes scanned over the treasure being hauled up and back to the ship, the needle wavered for a moment but settled back on Harry.

Harry turned beet red. "Oh," he said, realizing Ron and Hermione were there, plus Draco's people. Blaise and Pansy were listening with interest.

Draco didn't seem at all embarrassed for everyone to see the compass in his hands pointing at Harry.

"You should try it again, Potter."

"Ummm…" Harry's heart pounded, he wasn't sure he was ready to know.

"Scared?" Malfoy smirked.

"Yeah, right." Harry snatched it from Malfoy's hands, thinking about how all the gold they'd find would replace The Griffin and the amazing things they'd do with a new ship. But gold was cold and wouldn't warm his bed at night.

He peeked down at the needle, it wavered for a moment towards gold but very quickly went straight to Draco.

"Damn." Harry sighed.

"I hope this means you'll stop being in denial," Draco said happily, looking smugger than ever.

Harry rolled his eyes. "See, now you're going to be insufferable. This is why we can't be together on a full-time basis."

"Don't deny what your heart wants. I'm going to go tell the crew." Malfoy strutted out of the pit. Actually strutted. Like a bastard.

"Fine! I'll tell them you promised away that 65% of the gold to me and they're not getting paid anything!" Harry chased after him, the two of them bickering the whole way back to their ship.


End file.
